Nearshore scavenging phenomenon elucidated by 234th/238u disequilibrium in the coastal waters off Western Taiwan

Abstract

Dissolved and particulate 234Th activities in surface seawater were determined at 27 stations along the coastline of western Taiwan during 19–23 November 2004. Contrasting scavenging settings were observed between the northern and southern regimes of the nearshore water off western Taiwan, separated by the Cho-Shui River. The northern regime is characterized by a large quantity of suspended load contributed by northward transport of a suspension plume from the Cho-Shui River, while the southern regime, low in suspended load and high in chlorophyll concentration, is a system controlled by biological activity. A scavenging model that takes account of the physical transport was used to estimate the 234Th budget in order to estimate the scavenging and removal rates from the nearshore water. The scavenging and removal rates ranged from 21 to 127 dpm m−3d−1 and from 36 to 525 dpm m−3d−1, for dissolved and particulate 234Th, respectively. The removal fluxes of particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen (PON) were estimated by multiplying the particulate 234Th removal flux to the organic carbon/234Th and nitrogen/234Th ratios in suspended particles, which ranged from 4.5 to 275.2 mmol-C m−2d−1 and from 1.3 to 50.1 mmol-N m−2d−1, respectively. These fluxes resulted in residence times of 1∼20 days for the POC in the surface water of nearshore water off western Taiwan.